


Capitalism and the Rise of Home Video

by bettername2come



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19761004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettername2come/pseuds/bettername2come
Summary: This is still America. Which means Erica still needs to get paid, Scoops Ahoy or not. Steve just doesn't want to get fired.





	Capitalism and the Rise of Home Video

Altogether, the job at Family Video was better than the job at Scoops Ahoy, if only for the fact that Steve didn’t have to wear a sailor’s outfit the entire time. And, despite careful searching, he had yet to find a secret underground gateway to hell. So, you know, progress. However, there was one thing he was not happy to have at both stores. The service bell. Being rung a dozen times.

“Hello? Hello? Doesn’t anybody work here? My time is valuable, you know. I can’t just wait around all day.”

Steve sighed, reshelving the video in his hand and walking over to the counter. He pulled the bell out from under Erica’s hand. “All right, would you relax? You’ll get your movies.” He pulled the videos closer to check them out and scoffed. “Actually, no. No, you will not.”

“We had a deal. Free movies for life,” Erica said smugly.

“No. No, we had a deal for free ice cream for life. Free movies for life was a consolation prize given out of the goodness of mine and Robin’s hearts after the Scoops Ahoy was no more. But if you think you’re walking out of here with _Terminator_ , _Nightmare on Elm Street_ and _Friday the 13 th_, you’re crazy.”

Erica crossed her arms. “So let me get this straight – you’re completely fine with dragging me into your Russian spy bullshit and me helping save the town from a flesh monster from another dimension, but you draw the line at R-rated movies. Because _that’s_ what’s really going to ruin my childhood.”

“All right, so maybe-“

“ _And,_ Lucas says you snuck them into _Day of the Dead_ which I’m _pretty_ sure is worse than anything I have here. ”

“Okay, fine, all good points. However. Pretty sure you’re not gonna be watching these by yourself. And whatever cool points you think you’re gonna get are going to go away real fast when one of your little friends wakes up screaming from a nightmare and her mom asks where she saw a movie like this,” Steve said. “And then she’s going to call your mom who’s going to call here and find out who rented these to you. And then you’re going to be grounded and I’m gonna be fired. And then, guess what? The movie train’s gonna stop rolling.” Steve picked up the movies. “So, why don’t I go put these back, and you go pick out some nice PG movies, hmm?”

If Eleven had been the one giving Steve that look, he was sure he’d be going through a wall right now. As it was, the glare on Erica’s face had him half-convinced she was still going to hit him, and he really didn’t want to explain to Dustin that he’d gotten beaten up by Lucas’s little sister. Not when he’d finally convinced the kid he could win a fight.

Erica sighed and stalked back into the shelves.

Steve grinned. “You might want to check out _Supergirl_. Maybe _The Goonies_ ,” he called out. “Secret identities. Girl with superpowers. Meddling kids searching for things underground while the cool older guy puts up with their shit. Pretty relatable.”

“Don’t push it, nerd.”


End file.
